Refrigerating cabinet



June l5 1926. 1,589,064

R. W. GEARHART REFRIGERATING CABINET Filed May 22, 1925 I' vl C M /0 11912 ATTORNEY for the refrigeration of its interior.

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Patented June 15, 19.2.6.

i UNITED STATES rliisaoei [PATENT oFFlcE..

RALPH w. -crfiiAnnAn'ry or cLEAnFiELn, PENNSYLVANIA, AssIGNon 'rocE'ARHARr SALES CABINET CO., INC, OF DELAWARE.

rCl'iEAItFllIELD, PENNSYLVANIA, A. CORPORATION 0F REFRIGERATING-CABINET.

Application led Hay 22, 1925. Serial Io. 32,065.

In the commercial manufacture of ice cream and other frozen foodproducts, the same are' delivered from the freezer in a more-or lessslushy or semi-solid form, and require hardening before they are4adapted for distribution and consumption.

It is for this purpose of hardening that my present invention is 'moreespecially intended, but it will be evident to those skilled in the artthat my improved cabinet may be employed with great advantage to manyother uses involving the refrigeration of food products and othersubstances.

For this purpose Ihave invented a cabinet Whose Walls are insulatedagainst heat and which is provided with internal mens ie refrigerationmay be accomplished by means of pipes mounted within the cabinet andthrough which a refrigerating agent, such as ammonia or chilled brine ispassed, or the cabinet may be provided with a wall tank or tanks throughwhich the chilled 4brine flows. I prefer to provide the cabinet withhollow walls'in which the pipes are coiled, the cavit being waterftightso that the pipes e immersed in a bath of brine.

A diiiiculty in the present practice with cabinets of this character isthat when the closure is'opened to removel a portion of the contents ofthe cabinet, large quantities of Warm air are admitted, thusinjuriouslyaffecting the remaining contents of the cabinet andmaterially raising its4 interior temperature. Thus, it is impractical toVobtain proper hardening or refrigerating results in cases -Whereportions of the contentsof the cabinet must beremoved or replenished atrelatively frequent intervals. The result, in such cases, is that thehardening or refrigeration is only partial or incomplete, and thequality of the goods is seriouslyimpaired. y To overcome this diticulty,I provide in addition to the main door or closure of the cabinet, aplurality of inner closures or doors which close oli' portions of theinterior of the cabinet, so that when a portion of the contents of thecabinet isdto be removed, the main door is first opened4 and then theproper innerclosure to gain access to the desired contents, thusavoiding the exposure of the remaining contentsto an inru'sh of warmair. Thus, also, a portion of the contents of the cabinet may bereplenished u without exposing the other contents of the cabinet toheating.

In the preferred form of my invention, theinterior of the cabinet isprovided withl a rack upon Which the containers, such as fiat pans, uponwhich the articles to be refrigerated ai'e placed, are mounted in tiers,such containers being slidable into and out of said rack through the Aopen door of the cabinet. To enable the cabinet to be readily cleansedat frequent intervals,y the rack is arranged to be slid into and out ofthe cabinet through .the opened cabinet door.

The vfront of the rack is provided with an inner door or closure foreach tier, so that when access to a tier is desired, the cabinet door isfirst opened and then the inner door of the proper tier, the other innerdoors remaining closed for the protection of the con; tents of the othertiers. The inner doors,

-.Wlie`n all closed, form an inner seal or closure for the cabinet justwithin theouter door, so that an air space between the inner and outerclosures is provided, thus assisting in the insulation of the cabinetagainst the entrance of heat from without.-

My invention consists also in thevarious vsubcombinations and detailshereinafter described, and also in the construction, and in thearrangement of parts shown. y

.In -the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of acabinetembodying the principles of my invention, the cabinet door beingshown open, the rack partially Withdrawn from the cabinet and one of thetier doorsbeing partially opened; Fig; 2 is a vertical section of thecabinet taken along the line IIII` in Fig. .3; Fig'..3 is a horizontalsection of the cabinet taken along the' line III-#III in Fig. 2;'Fig. 4is an enlarged broken perspective view of the front ing a modified formof rack, and. Fig. 6 is an-` enlarged detail in horizontal sectionzshowing a front corner of the cabinetand the rack.

having an open front.

cabinet are of heat-insulated character. Thus the outer wall .1 Vmay bewood or metal and within Ywhich is a layer of heat-insulating material2, such as cork. The inner wall is preferably of metal and in the formof a.

metal tank 3 which extends from the iioorp;

to the top of the cabinet andruns around the three sides of the same. Atthe front of the cabinet, the door opening is defined at either side bya post 4, whlch may be of wood. The top ofthe cabinet m'ay be removable,such as the lid B. he top, whether in the form of a removable lid or apermanently attached closure, is preferably provided with an interliningof cork or other heat-insulating material, as is likewise the bottomorfloor of the cabinet.

The front of the cabinet is closed by an outer door C, which isinterlined with heat insulating material, as shown in Fig. 5, and whichdoor is preferably. hinged to swing on a vertical axis.

E represents a continuous pipe which is coiled in the tank 3 inhorizont-al lengths connected at the ends by the vertical legs 5. Theupperfend'of the pipe is led out, as shown at 6 in Figs. 1 and 2tllrough the side of the cabinet, while the lower end 7 is extendedvertically and also led out through the side of the cabinet. Ammoniagas, refrigerated brine or some other suitable refrigerating agent'iscaused to pass through saidpi e. I also prefer to maintain in Hsaid tanka ath of brine which is chilled by the contents of the pipe, or thebrine contents of the tank may be replaced with freshly chilled brine atintervals, as may be desired.

Dis a rack, Figs. 1, 2, `3, 4 and 6, which, in the embodiment shown, iscomposed of vertical front legs 8 which are shown as an le irons withtheir flanges atthe front an turned out to either side, as shown inFigs. 3, 4 and 6. rlhe rear legs 9 are also angle irons, turned as shownin Fig. 3. The horizontal members or supports 10 of the rack are angleirons with their horizontal r flanges below and turned inwardly, asshown. These horizontal members are attached' to legs 8 and 9 at theirends, and are also intermediate of their ends provided with the verticalstitening bars 11, of fiat metal, attached to their outer faces. At thetops and bottoms, the front legs are connected ,f and held in properspaced relation by crossstruts 12. Similar cross;struts are provided forthe rear legs 9.

The horizontal-members form a plurality of tiers for the storage ofsubstances on the rack, the substances to berefrigerated being laced onlong shallow pans 13 which may be slid into the rack from the front,being supported by the inturned flanges of the horizontal members 10. g

The rack is of proper width, so that when it is, slid into the cabinet,the out-turned fianges o the front legs S bear against the 'outersurfaces of the posts 4, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6\ cabinet at eachentrance of air.

thus closing the front of the side of the rack against rthe 14represents the inner doors, whichware preferabl of sheet metal and arepivotally attached` y their top edges to the front of the rack, one foreachrtier. Thus said doors may be provided at their tops with horizontalpivot shafts 15 Whose ends are journaledV in socket holes in the ,frontlegs 8. It is evident that when one of said inner orrtiendoors israised,a pan may be inserted into or withdrawn from the rack, withoutdisturbing the other doors, and thus the material admissionl of warm airis prevented. It is also evident that when all thevinner doors areclosed, an inner-seal or closure for the cabinet doorway is provided.

In Fig. 5 I illustrate a modified form of rack D wherein the sides andrear end and also, if preferred the top and bottom are enclosed, thehorizontally dis osed angle irons 10a being attached to the side wallsfor the support of the pans 13. The front ot' "the rack D is provided'with the angle-iron members 8, disposed like the members 8 of the rackD so as to fit against the door posts 4 and close the sides'of the rackagainst the entrance of the air. The lowest tier of the rack D .is shownprovided with a continuous floor 10b as a.y substitute for the angleirons 10a. By providing a tight floor for .each tier I completely closeit oi from the other tiers, so that the entrance of warm air into a tier`is absolutely yprevented unless .its individual door is opened. In Fig.5

for the sake of clearness only one of they inner doors 14 are ,shown inplace.

Thus the cabinet` may be loaded Vb tiers without seriously raising itsinterna temperature, and the contents of individual tiers may be removedor replenished in like manner.

I am thus able to, progressively and eflOO with a door, a rack withinsaid outer casing and provided with a plurality of horizontal slldewayseach adapted to receive a container,'and an individual door for thefront end of each of said slideways, said door being arranged toy closeto form atight clo- .sure for the outer end of the slideway after thecontainer has been `inserted into the slideway. Y f 2. In arefrigerating cabinet provided with cooling means, the combination vofan .outer casing having a door-way provided 4`with a. door, a rackwithin said outer casing and provided with a plurality of horizontalslideways each ada ted lto receive a container, andan individual doorfor the front end of each of said SIidewayS, said doorbe-l ing arrangedto close to form a tight closure ,for the outer end of the slidewayafter the ycontainer has been` inserted into the slideway, and saidindividual doors being also arranged whe'n all! closed to form an innerseal fior theV door-wayof the outer casing. p

3. In a` refrigerating cabinet provided with cooling means, thecombination of. an outer Acasing having a door-Way provided with a door,a rack `within said casing, the front end of said rack being arranged toI fit `the door-way to seal the same jaga-inst the entrance of air alongthe sides of the rack,'and said rack being provided with 'a plurality ofslideways each adapted to receive a container, and an individual doorfor the front end of each shdeway arranged to close to form a tightclosure for the outer end of the slideway after the container has f beeninserted into the slideway.

4. Ina refrigerating cabinet, the co1nbi` nation of an outer casinghaving a door- Way in its front provided with a door, pipe coilsarranged against the inner surfaces of the side and rear walls of thecasing for .the passage therethrough of a refrigerating agent, a rack insaid casing surrounded at its sides and rear by said coils, said rackA'fitting at the front of said door-way vand way in itssfront providedwith a door, pipe f coils arrang1 d against the inner surfaces of theside an v agent, arack in said casing surrounded at its sides and rearby said coils, said rack fitting at the front in said door-way and saidrack` being provided with slideways adapted to receive containersinserted 'through said door-Way, and an individual drop doo'r mounted onsaid rack at the front of each'sldeway, said door being arranged rearwalls of the casing for the i Apassage therethrough of a refrlgerating.

to drop down and close the outer end of the slideway after the containeris inserted or withdrawn, and said drop doors being also arranged whentheyare all closed to form an inner seal for said'door-way.

Signed at Clearfield, Pa., this 25th day of Apri 1925. Y

t RALPH W. GEARHART.

